daggett



(No Model 7 J. S. DAGGETT.

TRUNK.

Patented Feb. 1'7, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. DAGGETT, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO \VILLIAM COURTENAY, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

TRUNK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,812, dated February 17, 1891. Application filed February 19, 1890. Serial No. 340,984. (No model.)

To all whom it -may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN S. DAGGETT, a citizen of the United States, residing in Brooklyn,in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Trunk, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a trunk or packingbox which. shall possess great strength, large capacity for size, light ness, and portability, which shall be of very simple construction and cheap, and which can be packed and shipped in pieces, so as to occupy very little space. I obtain these objects by the construction shown in the drawings, in which- Figures 1,- 2, 3, and at show different parts of a trunk detached. Fig. 5 shows the detached parts approximately in the position they will occupy when put together, illustrating the way in which this is to be done; and Fig. 6 shows a completed trunk.

Essentially my trunk consists of two parts one a frame or skeleton of metal and a body or lining of some cheap light material, which need not have sufficient strength of itself, but which will serve all the purposes required when it is supported and protected by the metal frame.

For the sake of simplicity and cheapness of manufacture, it is desirable to have as few shapes. or patterns of metal as is consistent with their being of such a kind as will pack conveniently.

The frame can be made of any metal suitable for such work, as of iron, steel, or even of lead or zinc.

In Fig. 1, A is one of the end pieces of the body of the trunk. These are exactly alike, and consist, essentially, of a rectangular frame having three of its edges bent up into a flange. This frame can be strengthened by a cross-piece or rib. (Shown at a in Fig. 1.) It can be made by bending the edges up and riveting the overlapping corners of the flanges together, or it can be made of a sheet 01' plate of metal by swaging or drawing and the-parts of the metal not wanted can be out out at the same operation.

B in Fig. 2 shows the form of one of the other patterns used in the construction of the frame, being an angular or L-shaped strip of metal. I use four of these in the construction of the trunk-two in the top or cover and two in the bottom. Thosein the bottom are inserted in the lower angles formed by the flanges of the end pieces, where they can be secured by riveting. v This in very small boxes would be all that would be absolutely necessary to the frame of the bottom or body of the trunk; but I intendin most instances to use a third piece or pattern O, (shown in Fig. 3,) being a simple strip or rib of metal having a corrugation through itscenter to strengthen it. One of these can have its ends inserted in the flanges of the end pieces at about half their height at the back and another at the front, and it is to be secured by rivets, as were the patterns B. More than one of these ribs or strips can be used in the sides and others may connect the end pieces at the top and bottom of the trunk. The end pieces of the cover are also made of one piece and are exactly alike. They are shown at I) in Fig. 4E, and consist of angular strips like those of Fig. 2, except that in a trunk of common shape they would be shorter, and they have their ends closed, as shown in the figure. Their length is slightly longer than the unflanged side of the end pieces. of the body, so that the upper end pieces can shut down over the edge of the lower. The flanges or sides of these end pieces should also be a little broader than those of the end pieces of the body of the trunk. These end pieces of Fig. 4: are connected together by two of the angular strips of Fig. 2 in the same way as the end pieces of the body of the trunk; but as the cover must be a little larger than the body I make the flanges of the end pieces broader than those of the end pieces of Fig. 1. The angular strips might be made a little longer than those of the body of the trunk; but as it is desirable to avoid a multiplicity of patterns I prefer to obtain the increase of size in the cover in the way indicated. The cover can also be strengthened by one of the ribs shown in Fig. 3, as indi cated in Fig. 5.

It will be seen thatl have thus designed the skeleton or frame of a trunk consisting of pieces 0L three or at most l'our patterns only. 13y reason of the simplicity of this design these pieces c n be manufactured with great cheapness and packed and shipped in small compass, and can be put together, when desired, by any mechanic.

To complete the trunk or box, as before suggested, any light material can be used, such as various forms of prepared paper now in the market, leather-board, vulcanlzed fiber, leather, thin sheets of wood, or any material suitable to the purposes for which the trunk is intended. The material chosen is cut. into sheets of size and shapeproper to form the ends, sides, top, and bottom of the trunk, and these sheets can then be inserted in and riveted to the frame. The cover is secured to the body of the trunk by strap-hinges, and handles can be placed on the ends and a lock and catches in front in any ordinary way. The cover being slightly larger than the body, as before shown, shuts down over the sides and ends and the top or boot section of the trunk, which is one of the weakest parts of the common traveling-trunk, is omitted. There will be no side strains upon the cover, and there fore it will be practicable to secure the hinges and lock directly to the sides, which otherwise might not be strong enough to hold them. The handles can be secured to the cross-pieces (t. The corrugations in the braces can be tilled in with pieces of wood or other material, which will add something to their strength.

I am aware that it is not new to guard and protect corners and edges of wooden an d other trunks with metahand also that metal frames have been used inside of leather trunks to sti ll'en them and give them shape; but in none o1. these cases, so far as I know, has a frame been composed of but three metallic forms or patterns only, so designed as to be shipped in a separated condition, occupying but little space, and when put together forming a frame to secure together the separate pieces forming the proper sides, ends, top, and bottom of the trunk, but also guarding and protecting its corners and edges, so that all of those parts can be shipped in a flat condition and easily put together by the retailer, and lost or broken parts replaced from a small stock of patterns. These results are produced by the design of the patterns, and the invention is not departed from by the addition of any number of strengthening-pieces, such as the strips C. I do not therefore claim, broadly, a trunlcframe of metal combining with a lining to form a trunk, but

\Yhat I do claim is- A trunk having its sides, ends, top, and bottom held together and its corners and edges guarded by a frame constructed, essentially, of but. three patternsthat is to say, the flanged end pieces A of the body of the trunk, the end pieces I) of the cover, also having flanges,one of which when the trunk is closed comes outside of. and incloses the top of the end of the body of the trunk, and the angular strips 13, fitting into the flanges of the 0pposite end pieces, which they connect and hold together, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

Witnesses:

'W. H. Mrrcnnmy, II. S. MITCHELL. 

